Collapsible spool



Oct. 12, 1937.

T. H. BYRON COLLAPSIBLE SPOOL Filed Dec. 17, 1934 mOOOOOOOOOOCOOOGO QEJ L gwuc rvb j 5 1%072245 7f. fiyrm.

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Elizabethton, Tenn., assignor to North American Rayon Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application December 17, 1934, Serial No. 757,929 7 Claims. (01. 242-72) This invention relates to the manufacture of artificial filaments but primarily has for its pur-" pose to devise a novel type. of spool for use in the handling and treating of artificial filaments.

In the spool spinning process, the threads 'are extruded and wound upon spools. The spools used are generally of the rigid type although-contractible or collapsible spools are known and have been used.. The yarn thus wound upon the spool is wet-treated and dried, all operations being conducted while the yarn remains upon the spool.

It is during the drying step that the need arises for a means to obtain a compensation for uneven shrinkage which results in uneven dyeing.

\ This uneven shrinkage is due to the inner layers of the yarn body, or, those nearest the spool, being unable to shrink whereas the outer layers may shrink against the inner layers. The inner layers therefore in dyeing have a'lesser afiinity for the dyestuffs than do the outer layers, resulting in what is called the inside-outside dyeing difieronce, which is naturalIy undesirable.

In order to overcome this trouble a great many types of collapsible or contractible spools have been devised. Spools constructed from a sheet of perforated aluminum rolledinto the shape of a spiral have been tried. The difliculty here, however, is that the filaments are wound on the spools in spirals and at certain points where the spiral or helix of the threads more nearly coincides with the spiral openings of the spool the filaments have a tendency to wind in these openings.-

There have also been spools formed of a gapped cylinder with thegap, during winding, filled by a Wedge piece which at the end of the winding is removed allowing the cylinder to contract. This type of spool has the tendency to pinch or compress the filaments at the gap.

Another type of spool which has been tried with some success consists of casing formed of an endless wire which is formed into a series of loops lying parallelto the spool axis. This spool while an improvement over the prior art, has proven somewhat difficult to handle when necessary to convey the yarn and spool from one step of the process to another due to its lack of rigidity. Further, when yarn shrinks upon this type of spool due to the fact that the ends of this spool must be mounted, a distinct sag occurs in the central portion which is undesirable. The lack of rigidity is therefore seen to be an almost insurmountable drawback despite the advantage of resiliency.

ing degrees of success. So far neither the types of contractible spools mentioned nor any others which may have been tried have proven successful enough to displace the rigid spool despite the disadvantage arising from use thereof of uneven o shrinkage of the yarn bodies wound thereon.

It is therefore one object of the present invention to devise a novel contractible spool which will yield to the pressure of a shrinking yarn body wound thereon as it occurs during the after-treatl0 ment of the filaments, and specifically during the drying step.

Another object of the present invention is to devise a contractible spool which despite the flexible nature thereof will be sufficiently rigid in 15 order to facilitate the handling thereof.

These and other objects will in part become obvious and in part be pointed out in the following specification and annexed claims when taken in which:

, Figure 1 is aside elevation of my novel spool,

and e Figure 2 is a developed plan view of the spool casing as it would appear unrolled on plane sur- 25 face.

In the drawing in which like numerals of reference indicate like parts, I indicates narrow strips having perforations 2 therein for the purpose of allowing treating fluids to circulate more 30 freely during the wet-treatment of the yarn body mounted on the spool casing. The rigid strips may be made of any suitable material such as, for example, aluminum, Bakelite, etc. Y

These strips l are joined one to the other by a wire formed in a series of rod portions 3 which are looped at alternate ends as indicated at 4.

With the above described structure it is readily seen that a spool casing is formed which readily decreases in circumference as the yarn wound thereon shrinks but which will still retain sufiicient rigidity to make the handling thereof a simple matter. The invention therefore com bines all the advantages to be derived from a rigid spool and of a contractible spool with the drawbacks of both types eliminated.

From the foregoing description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing it is thoughtthe complete construction, operation and advantages of my invention will be clear to those skilled in the art to which it relates.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention may be made without departing from the spirit thereof, it is to be understood that I donot intend to limit myself to the face.

2 specific embodiment thereof except as indicated in the appended claims. a

What/I claim is:

1. ,A contractible spool having a winding surface' comprising a plurality of rigid strips parallel to the spool axis, and a. wire joining adjacent strips, said wire being formed in series of loops, one end of said wire being attached at one end of one strip and the other end being attached to the opposite end of the adjacent strip.

2. A winding surface for bodies of yarn, comprising a series of strips and a series of wire loops serving to connect these strips one to the other, and to comprise, with the strips, a winding sur- 3. A contractible spool having a winding surface comprising a plurality of rigid strips and a plurality of strips one to the other.

wire loops joining the ends of said 4 A contractible spool having a winding surin a series of rod portions looped at alternate ends.

6. A spool for use in the winding of yarn, said spool having a winding surface composed of a series of plates, and a plurality of wire loops joining said strips one to the other to mutually'f orm continuous loops.

'7. A support for yarn bodies having a cylindrically shaped surface comprising a series of flat strips, and interconnecting wire loops.

' THOMAS H'. BYRON. 

